Crate for milk bottles and the like



Feb. 28, 1939. H, A. KEINER El AL CRATE FOR MILK BOTTLES AND THE LIKEFiled April 15, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l van/250215 Feb. 28, 1939. H, A.KEINER ET AL I CRATE FOR MILK BOTTLES AND THE LIKE Filed April 15, 19352 Sheets-Sheet 2 1' rzverzl o Patented Feb. 28, 1939 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE I 2,149,242 CRATE FOR MILK BOTTLES AND THE LIKE Henry A.Keiner, Richmond Hill, N. Y., and Robert Stoddard, Chicago, Ill.,assignors to Milk Bottle Crate Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation ofIllinois, and Keiner Williams Stamping 00., Richmond Hill, 'N. Y., acorporation of New York Application April 15, 1935, Serial No. 16,312

Claims.

This invention relates to crates for milk bottles and the like and theprimary object of our invention is to improve the construction of suchcrates,

Crates having the walls thereof formed from a plurality of spaced slatshave been so constructed heretofore that it'ha's been quite difficult toreplace a broken slat because of the manner in which the slats weresecured, and an important object of our invention is to facilitate thereplacement of a broken slat so that this can be accomplished quicklyand economically.

Another object is to effectively reenforce the corners of the crate andan ancillary objectis to utilize the corner reenforcements to space theslats of the walls of the crate.

Furtherobjects are to insure rigid support of the lowermost slats of thewalls of the crate to therebyincrease the rigidity of the crate; toreenforce the walls of the crate intermediate the top andflbottom edgesthereof; to effectively protect the corners of the crate and the ends ofthe uppermost and lowermost slats of the crate; to securely retainbottle supporting members at the bottom of the crate and to facilitateinstallation of these bottle supporting members; to reenforce oppositewalls of the crate and the bottle receivingmembers by extending areenforcing member between opposite walls of the crate and passing thebottle supporting members through this reenforcing member; to arrangedividing rails in the crate to define bottle receiving spaces inalignment with the bottle supporting members and to interconnect thedividing rails at the intersections thereof; to form the dividing railsto provide ice supporting platforms at the intersections-of the rails;to provide upper and lower sets of dividing rails and to reenforce theserails by reenforcing members extending between the sets of rails at theintersections of therails of each set; to effectively preventdisplacement of the members interconnecting the slats of the walls ofthe crate; and to provide a crate of simple and economical constructionwhich will effectively withstand severe usage.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on the line6-6 on Fig. 3;

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially onthe line 1-1 on Fig. 2;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective detail view of one of the dividers;

Fig. 9 is a horizontal sectional detail view taken substantially on theline 39 on Fig. '7;

Fig. 10 is a vertical sectional detail view taken substantially on theline Illlil on Fig. 7;

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary perspective detail view of the modified form ofthe dividers; V

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing a modified form ofconstruction;

- Fig. 13 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional detail View showing amodified form of separator installed in position;

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of the separators shown in Fig. 13;

Fig. 15 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view illustrating a furthermodified construction for the bottom of the crate;

Fig. 16 is a view of a modified form for the divider support; and v Fig.17 is a detail view of a divider support.

The crate as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive, includes end wallsIt and. I! and side walls l8 and I9. Each of these walls is madeup of aplurality of slats. The uppermost slat lfia in the end Wall [6 has amedially located recess 20 in the lower edge thereof and the adjacentslat lBb has a medially located recess 2| in the upper edge thereof. Therecesses 20 and 2| cooperate to provide a handhole 23, a handhole 24being similarly formed in the end wall H.

The side walls l8 and I9 extend between the end portions of the endwalls It and I1 and the walls are firmly interconnected at each cornerto prevent separation. The slats comprising the various walls are spacedapart and we have combined the means for spacing the slats apart withmeans for reenforcing the corners. Thus we provide combined separatingand reenforcing members 25 (Fig. 5) which include right angularlyextending limbs 26 and 21. Embossures 28 and 29 are provided near theends of the limbs 26 and 21, respectively, and openings 3|] and 3| areformed in the embossures 2B and 29. respectively.

A corner member 32 is also provided at each corner of the crate. Eachcorner member 32 comprises right angularly extending parts 33 and 34which are respectively engaged with the outer faces of the end and sidewalls. Each of the lowermost slats of the'side walls, as for example theslat l8e of the side wall l8, has a recess 35 in the lowermost edge ateach end thereof. The

part 34 of each corner member includes an extension which, in the caseof the side wall it, is folded into the recess 35 adjacent the cornermember, as indicated at 36 (Fig 3). The extension is then folded up overthe inner face of the lowermost slat [8c of the side wall, as indicatedat3ta, and then across the top edge of this slat to terminate in spacedrelation with the outer face of the slat, as is indicated at 361). Anopening 3'! is provided in the section 361) in alignment with a bore 38in the slat 18c.

Each end wall includes a shoe piece 33, to be described more fullyhereinafter, at the lower end thereof, and each shoe piece has a recess40 in the lower edge at each end thereof. The part 33 of each cornermember 32 includes an extension like the extension 36 which is arrangedin the adjacent recess 44, and this extension also includes sectionswhich extend over the inner face of the shoe piece and the inner face ofthe lowermost slat of the end wall. Another section of the extensionextends across the top of this: lowermost slat of the end wall and isarranged similarly to the section 36? I The uppermost slat of each wallis recessed on its outer face near the ends thereof, as indicated at 4|,and the upper ends of the parts 33 and 34 of the corner members areinset as is illustrated in Fig. 3 wherein the upper section 34' of thepart 34 is inset to be disposed in the recess 4| in the outer face ofthe slat Ma. The upper sections of these parts are so inset to permitthe limbs of corner caps to be extended thereover in alignment with themain extent of the parts 33 and 34. This is also illustrated in Fig. 3wherein a depending limb 42 on the corner cap, generally indicated by43, is aligned with the main extent of the part 34. The corner cap 43includes a depending limb 44 which depends over the inner face of theslat 68a and it also includes other depending limbs which embrace theupper slat Ilia of the end wall IS in the same way in which the limbs 42and 44 embrace the slat 18a. The opposite depending limbs are connectedtogether and to the slats embraced therebetween by rivets such as 45.The slats of each of the walls intermediate the top and bottom slatshave a bore therein near each end thereof, such bores being indicated by46 in Fig. 3, and pins 47 are passed through these bores to secure theslats in position. The pins 41 are of a length about equal to the heightof the slats of the Walls, which slats are of uniform height.

In assembling a wall, for example, the wall l8, the bottom slat We isinserted into the area enclosed by the lower end of the part 34 and thesections 33, 36a and 36b of the extension of said part 34. The bore 33that extends about halfway through slat 486 is aligned with the opening31 in the section 35b. Then a pin 41 is passed through the opening 31into the bore 38. Since the bore 38 extends only halfway through thesection I86 a pin 41 so installed projects above the section 361). Thenone of the combined separating and reenforcing members 25 is arranged inposition by passing the pin 41 through the opening 38 in the embossure28. Then the bore 46 at the proper end of the slat I8d is passed overthe installed pin 41 which then extends about halfway through this bore46. Thus when a second pin 41 is inserted into the bore 46 it Willengage the top of the first pin and will extend above the top edge ofthe slat l8d. Then anher combined separating and reenforcing member 25is positioned above the slat l8d by passing the second pin 41 throughthe opening 30 in the embossure 28 of this member. The slats I80 and ltbare mounted in position in the same manner as the slat Hid and then theslat l8a is mounted over the slat Mb. The lower edge of the slat lBarests on the top of the embossure 28 of the combined separating andreenforcing member 25 at the top of the slat I82), and the uppermost pin41 projects into the bore 46 that extends about halfway through the slat18a. The above described procedure is also carried out at the oppositeend of the wall l3 which is therefore completed when the slat |8a is inposition.

Then the end wall it; is built up in a similar manner starting with thelower slat lBe to which a shoe piece $39 will have been joined as willbe described. The combined shoe piece and slat Hie are handled in thesame manner as the slat l8e. When the slat Ilia is in position the wallIE will have been built up.

Next the corner member 43 is installed at the top of the corner betweenthe walls l8 and IS with the depending parts thereof positioned asdescribed. Rivets 45 are passed through the depending parts of thecorner member 43, parts 33 and 34, and the uppermost slats and fastenthese parts together. These rivets extend across the upper ends of theuppermost pins 41 and prevent displacement of the pins. Thus the end andside walls are securely connected at each corner since the aboveprocedure is carried out at each corner of the crate.

The lowermost slats Hie and He of the end walls 16 and H are of lessheight than the other slats in the end and side walls but when the shoepieces 35.? are added to the slats the and He the aggregate height ofthese slats and shoe pieces is equal to the height of the other slats.The shoe pieces 39 are joined to the slats Hie and I Te by nailing or inother suitable manner, and the location of the nails will be describedmore fully hereinafter.

As best shown in Fig, 9, the shoe pieces 39 are routed in their uppersurfaces near the outer edges thereof to provide grooves 48. A pluralityof rods 49 are provided and these rods are arranged in pairs to providebottle supports at the bottom of the crate. Each of these rods has aright angularly extending foot portion 50 at each end and these footportions 54 are mounted in the grooves 48. As illustrated in Fig. 7,grooves 5| are formed in the top surface of the shoe pieces 39 whichextend from the grooves 48 to the inher sides of the shoe pieces'39. Thegrooves 5| are arranged in pairs across the crate so thatwhen rods 49are rested therein a pair of rods will extend below each of the bottlereceiving spaces defined by the dividing rails, to be explained morefully hereinafter. the shoe pieces 39 and the bottom slats I66 and Hepreferably pass through the shoe pieces adjacent the grooves 5! so as topass through the right angle defined by the foot portions 50 and themain extent of the rods 49. Nails so located The nails whichinterconnect ceiving-spaces in the crate and that the bottle receivingspaces are defined by dividing rails.

Inthe crate as illustrated, there are two sets of I extend between theside walls I8 and I9 and intersect the rails 52 and the areas bounded bythese intersecting rails and the rails and the walls of the crate ailordthe bottle receiving spaces. The ends of the rails 54 rest on the topedges of the lowermost slats I8e and I9e of the side walls I8 and I9 andare secured thereto by nails 55 which have enlarged heads that cooperatewith the embossures 28 to space the slats I8e and I8d and He and IMapart. As best shown in Figs. 2 and 7, the rails 52 and 54 arepreferably formed of fiat strips and intermediate the. intersections ofthese rails one with the other they are bent downwardly toprovide'depen'ding flanges 55 which cooperate with the peripheries ofround bottles mounted in the bottle receiving spaces to retain thesebottles in position.

The upper set of dividing rails consists of rails 51 that extend betweenthe endwalls I6 and I1 and rails 58 that extend between the side wallsI8 and I9. The rails 51 and 58 are. wider than the rails 52 and 54.Tongues 59 are struck from the rails 51 and 58 near the ends, as bestillustrated in Figs 'l and 8. These tongues engage the inner sides ofthe walls to which the rails are secured 'and afford reenforcement. Inthe form of the invention shown, the ends of the rails 51, beyond thedepending tongues 59, are rested on the top surfaces of the slats I6dand I 1d in the end walls and are secured thereto by nails 60 which haveenlarged heads that cooperate with the embossures 29 to space the slatsI60 and I1-c from the slats I6d and "(1. The ends of the rails 58 beyondthe tongues 59 rest on the top edges of the slats I8cl and I9d of theside walls and the ends of these rails are secured to these slats bynails 6| which have enlarged heads that cooperate with the embossures 28to space the slats I and I from the slats I 8d and I9d.

The upper rails 51, 58 are bent downwardly at their side edges and atspaced intervals intermediate the intersections of the rails to pro-'vide depending flanges 62 which engage and assist in retaining thebottles in spaced relation in the pockets formed for them bythe'intersecting rails. These rails 51, 58 are made of strips wider thanthe strips of the lower rails 52, 54 and the overlapping portions of therails between the flanged portions provide substantial platforms 63 atthe corners of the pockets formed by the intersecting rails. In practicethe crate is filled with bottles of milk and crushed ice is thrown inupon the rails 51, 58 and distributed around the bottles. The rails notonly retain the bottles in spaced relation but they substantially fillthe space between the bottles and constitute a support for the crushedice and retain it about the bottles for refrigerating purposes. Lugs 54'at the intersections of the rails are spaced apart on one set of railstoreceive the rails of the other set upon which they are. clenched.These lugs interconnect I the rails sufficiently to hold them rigid andprevent them from separating. The rails may be securedtogether at theirintersections by riveting or welding, or they may be formed as shown inFig. 11 in which the rails 51' are curved transversely or formedconcavo-convex at their intersections with the rails 58 and the edges51" tend to dig into the surface of the rails 58' and prevent relativemovement. The rails 51, 58 are, of course, rigidly secured at their endsto the walls of thecrate and for some purposes it may not be necessaryto provide any interconnection between the rails at their intersections,but we prefer to connect the rails to hold one set of rails snuglyagainst the other set and thus provide a grid-like divider having itsparts sufficiently united to distribute the strains throughout the gridand to all of the fastening devices, and to relieve the strain uponindividual rails and fastening devices, and to furnish that degree ofrigidity desirable for dividing means of this kind.

Further reenforcement for the dividing rails at the intersectionsthereof may be afiorded by extending reenforcing members between theintersections of the rails 52 and 54 and 51 and 58. A reenforcing memberfor this purpose is shown in Fig. '7 and is indicated by 64. This reenforcing member includes a concave-convex body having foot portions 65 and66 at opposite ends thereof. The foot portion 55 is rested on anintersection of the rails 52 and 54 and is secured thereto in anapproved manner as by spotwelding, riveting or the like. The footportion 66 is mounted below the intersection of the rails 51 and 58vertically aligned with the intersection of the rails 52 and 54 to whichthe foot portion 65 is secured and this foot portion 66 is connected tothe intersection of the rails 51 and 58 in an approved manner as byspotwelding, riveting or the like.

A modified form of such a reenforcing member is shown in Fig. 16 andthis member is formed from a fiat strip. The body 64' includes footportions 65' and 66. The foot portions 65' and 56' are arranged invertical alignment and the body 64' extends from one end of one foot portion to the aligned end of the other foot portion so that thereenforcing member, when viewed in side elevation, is substantiallyU-shaped. A reenforcing member of this kind is mounted in position inthe same manner as that in which the reenforcing member 64 is mounted inposition.

A further modified form of reenforcing member is shown in Fig. 17 andherein the body 64 includes right angularly extending walls, one ofwhich is longer than the other. The extending end portions of the longerwall are bent into parallel relation with the ends of the shorter wallto provide foot portions 65 and 66". This reenforcing member is mountedin the same manner as that in which the reenforcing members 64 and M aremounted.

The bottom slats of the side walls and the bottle supporting members 49may be reenforced by extending a substantially V-shaped reenforcingmember such as 61 between such lowermost slats and engaging the fiatfoot portions, such as 88 at opposite ends of the member 61, with theinner sides of these lowermost slats. The foot portions 68 may besecured to the slats by nails 69 or in any other approved manner.Aligned openings 18 are formed in the inclined sides of the V-shapedmember 61 and the supporting rods 49 are passed through these openings.Thus by mounting the member 61 midway between the end walls I6 and I1this member not only reenforces the lowermost slats of the side wallsbut also the supporting rods 49.

The combined separating and reenforcing members 25 of the form shown inFig. 5 do not provide ledges or platforms on which ice may be supportedat the corners of the crate and do not include bottle engaging flangeswhich will retain the bottles in the corner bottle re ceiving spacesagainst movement. Therefore a combined separating and reenforcing membersuch as that illustrated in Figs. 13 and 14 may be provided for usebetween the slats I60 and ltd and lie and Hd in the end walls and theslats itc and Mid and I and IM in the side walls so as to be alignedwith the dividing rails 57 and 5% This member is indicated by 25' andincludes embossures 28' and 29 similar to the embossures 28 and 29 butinstead of including right angularly extending limbs the member 25' isformed from a substantially square sheet of material which is bentdownwardly digenally opposite the outermost corner thereof to provide abottle engaging flange 62. The space intermediate the depending flanget2 and that part of the member 25 aligned with the embossures 28' and 29provides an ice supporting platform 63. The flanges 52 serve to hold thebottles in the corner bottle receiving spaces against movement.

in the invention as thus far described, the slate of the various wallshave been secured in position by passing short pins 41 through boresextending through the slats at opposite ends thereof. When one of suchslats is broken the rivets 55 passing through the uppermost slat in thewall in which the broken slat is contained are removed as well as theother rivets passing through the corner caps 43 through which thesefirst named rivets pass. The corner caps 43 are then removed after whichthe slats may be lifted from position, and when the broken slat isreached it is removed and replaced and the wall is reassembled asdescribed.

In Fig. 12 a modified form of construction for the interconnection ofthe slats of the walls is shown and in this construction no corner capsare provided at the upper edges of the corners. In this construction thelower ends of the corner members, generally indicated by 32', arearranged in the same manner as the lower ends of the corner members 32and the slats We and Hie are mounted in position in the mannerdescribed. However, instead of employing a plurality of short pins 4? along pin 41 is provided. Furthermore, the bores in the uppermost slatsextend entirely through these slats as indicated at at and the long pins47 extend through these bores ts" beyond the tops of the slats i811 and55a as illustrated in Fig. 12. Furthermore, the upper end of the part34" of the corner member 32 is bent inwardly as indicated at Std to passacross the top of the slat I81: and this part is then bent downwardly asindicated at that to extend over the inner face of the upper slat itsand the pin M passes through an opening in the part Sta. To preventdisplacement of the upper end of the pin 41 it is peened over. It willalso be noted that the pin 4'? extends through a bore 38 that extendsentirely through the lowermost slat Hie. The lower end of the pin 4'!extends through an opening in the section 3.6 and this end of the pin t?is also peened over. Rivets 45 pass through the parts 34" and 35a andthe uppermost rail iBa to secure this rail in position. The part of thecorner member 32 corresponding to the part 33 of the corner member 32 isarranged similarly to the part 34 of the corner member 32 to embrace theupper edge of the slat 16a. When a broken slat is to be replaced in aconstruction employing the pins 41' the peened parts at correspondingends of the required pins 41 are straightened to permit removal of thesepins whereupon the parts such as the parts 34a and 35a are straightenedto permit the removal of the slats down to the broken slat.

Either the corner arrangement shown in Fig. 3 or that shown in Fig. 12can be used in connection with the other novel features which We havedescribed heretofore but one or the other of these constructions shouldbe used at all corners of a particular crate.

In Fig. 15 a modified form for the shoe piece 39 is illustrated andherein the lower end and parts of the inner and outer faces of the shoepiece 39 areembraced by a metallic strip H which is retained in positionby nails T2 or the like. Moreover, a metallic strip i3 embraces thebottom edge and lower parts of the inner and outer faces of the bottomslat We of the side Wall shown herein. This strip '53 is retained inposition by nails 14 or the like. Thus, Fig. 15 shows how the bottomedges of the crate may be effectively protected against damage.

so crate of this invention has the corners thereof effectively protectedagainst damage and if one of the slats is broken in the use of thecrate, as happens quite frequently, this slat may be easily replaced.The pins interconnect the slats and impart rigidity to the crate and theloose mounting of the slats on the pins facilitates repair andreplacement without lessening this rigidity.

The dividing rails 5'5, 58 are made of strips sufliciently wide to forma grid which substantially fills the space between the bottles and notonly maintains the bottles in spaced relation but also forms a supportwhich will hold crushed ice about the bottles. The icing of bottled milkin crates for wagon delivery is quite necessary in hot weather and thegrid formed by the dividing rails retains the crushed ice about thebottles in a satisfactory manner. The dies necessary for forming thedividing rails are comparatively inexpensive and the rails can be easilyassembled in cross formation and secured together and to the walls ofthe crate to form an inexpensive grid which is strong, sufiicientlyrigid for all purposes and supports the ice packed about the bottles. Bysecuring the rails together at their intersections they are maintainedagainst the relative movement to which they may be subjected incommercial use of the crate and this also increases the rigidity of thegrid.

The spacers on the corner reenforcing members insure uniform spacing ofthe slats without requiring separate parts for this purpose, and thesereenforcing members being connected to the pins which interconnect theslats serve also to strengthen and increase the rigidity of the crate.The manner of mounting the bottle supporting rods in the walls of thecrate is simple, novel and can be accomplished at low cost and the rodsare firmly held against displacement.

While we have illustrated and described selected embodiments of ourinvention it is to be understood that these are capable of variation andmodification and we therefore do not wish to be limited to the precisedetails set forth but desire to avail ourselves of such changes andalterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a crate for bottles and the like, a plurality of dividing railsextending between opposite walls of the crate, the rails extendingbetween one set of said opposite walls intersecting the rails extendingbetween the other opposite walls, the

spaces defined between said intersecting rails and said rails on thewalls of the crate affording bottle receiving spaces, certain of saidrails having por tions of substantially concavo-convex formation atleast at the points of intersection of these rails with other of therails, the concavo-convex formation of said portions providing sharpedges at the lower corners thereof, said other of said rails havingsubstantially flat portions at least at the points of intersectionthereof with said certain of said rails, said sharp edges digging intosaid substantially flat portions to interconnect the rails at the pointsof intersection and permit relative movement thereb etween.

2. In a crate for bottles and the like, a plurality of dividing railsextending between opposite walls of the crate, the rails extendingbetween one set of said opposite walls intersecting the rails extendingbetween the other opposite walls, the spaces defined between saidintersecting rails and said rails and the walls of the crate affordingbottle receiving spaces, the parts of said rails intermediate theintersections thereof being bent downwardly to provide bottle engagingflanges, certain of said rails being of substantially concavo-convexformation to provide sharp edges at the lower corners thereof engageablewith the rails intersecting said certain rails to dig thereinto andprevent relative movement between the intersecting rails.

3. In a bottle crate having means therein defining bottle receivingspaces, bottle supports at the bottom of said crate and aligned withsaid bottle receiving means, and means for retaining said bottlesupporting members in said crate and including portions at the loweredges of opposite walls of said crate each having longitudinallyextending grooves therein spaced inwardly from the sides of saidportions, said portions having other grooves therein extending inangular relation with the first named grooves from said first namedgrooves to only one side of said portions, said bottle supportingmembers having angularly extending foot portions thereon arranged insaid longitudinally extending grooves upon passage of said bottlereceiving members through said other grooves, the extension of saidbottle supporting members through said other grooves preventing movementthereof toward and away from each other and the disposition of said footportions in said longitudinally extending grooves preventinglongitudinal movement of said bottle supporting members relative to saidopposite walls.

4. In a bottle crate having means therein defining bottle receivingspaces, bottle supports at the bottom of said crate and aligned withsaid bottle receiving spaces, and means for retaining said bottlesupporting members in said crate and including members secured at thelower edges of opposite walls of said crate and having longitudinallyextending grooves in the upper edges thereof spaced inwardly from thesides of said members, said members having other grooves in the upperedges thereof and in which said bottle supporting members are seated,said bottle supporting members having angularly extending foot portionsthereon arranged in said longitudinally extending grooves to preventlongitudinal movement of said bottle supporting members relative to saidopposite walls.

5. In a bottle crate, a plurality of cross-rails dividing the crate intobottle receiving pockets, said rails being formed from flat strips ofsubstantial width and at least one of said rails at 7 each intersectionbeing of concavo-convex formation at its intersection with the otherrail at said intersection and having the concave side thereof adjacentsaid other rail, the rails being bent at their side edges at the sidesof said pockets to form bottle engaging flanges and forming horizontalplatforms at their intersections between said bottle receiving pocketswhereby said convex side of said one rail and said other rail supportcrushed ice distributed thereon and about the bottle for refrigeratingpurposes.

HENRY A. KEINER.

ROBERT STODDARD.

